Post navigation

Grilled PB&J

Today’s a busy catching-up-day after working on the weekend, I didn’t sleep much last night, and my little one has strep (again), so I can’t ramble on and on as is my wont. You’re spared! I’ll just tell you a quick story I remembered while food shopping this morning. One day last winter I was trundling down the aisle of the supermarket with my shopping cart. It’s just a regular supermarket. Not one of those nice ones with mood lighting and gelato bars and shoppers in velvet yoga pants. Just a grey, dreary fluorescent hangar of a place. Everybody was in their own little get-the-shopping-done-and-get-on-with-the-day bubble, focussed on their shopping lists and looking for the lowest price. Everybody Plays the Fool by the Main Ingredient came on the store loudspeaker. It was as if the whole rhythm of the store changed. Everybody started singing along, under our breath. We all knew the words. We’ve all played the fool. Nobody really looked at each other, but you could tell everybody thought it was funny that we were all singing. And it seemed as though everybody suddenly moved in time to the music. I half expected everyone to break out in a choreographed dance number, the can-stackers and floor moppers stacking and mopping in time to the music, people sashaying from shelf to shelf and aisle to aisle. Of course that didn’t happen. But it was a nice moment – a memorable moment.

Here’s the simplest recipe ever. We eat a lot of peanut butter and jelly around here. David’s eaten a pb & j for lunch almost every day since I’ve met him. The boys take them to school in their lunch boxes. We had a morning of pouring rain, so I thought I’d warm it up a bit. My mom and dad used to make these for us when I was little. The salted butter adds such a lovely twist, and the outside gets toasty and crunchy, while the inside gets soft and gooey. I realize this is a sort of silly recipe to post, but some days you just need a sandwich like this!

Put about 1 tablespoon of peanut butter on one slice of bread, spread evenly. Put the same amount of jam on the other, and sandwich them together. (That’s right, I’m telling you how to make a sandwich!)

Spread a thin layer of salted butter on the outsides of the bread.

Put the sandwich in a small skillet on low-moderate heat. Cook till the bottom is golden and crispy, then flip and cook the other side till similarly brown and crispy. If you keep the heat lowish, the insides will have a chance to get nice and warm and soft. Be careful not to burn yourself on hot jam!

My son’s favorite lunch when he was a kid was a peanut butter and dill pickle sandwich. In the summertime I like a PBLT, peanut butter with smoked paprika and lettuce and tomato. My newest PB creation is a banh mi with french bread, sweet chili mayo and those crunchy pickled vegetables and cilantro that come with banh mi. Jellly not so much.